OUTSIDE OF SOCIETY - THAT'S WHERE I WANT TO BE

March 21st, 2008

Who besides me knows that LJ user stats get done by the week or by the month, not by the day - and that consequently if, and it's a big if, a noticeable percentage of people would actually stop using LJ for a day, it would go completely unnoticed?

Who's the bane of YOUR existence? Surely there's someone who pisses you off in such a huge way that it merits flogging, at least. 'Round here, we call that person a RAT BASTARD. Who is the person you most want to rip a new asshole for whatever reason? Go ahead - now's your chance to put them on blast. Start commenting, and have fun gettin' your hate on - and out. IP logging is off and anonymous commenters WERE welcome, but I've had to disable it since I've gotten six tons of bullshit spam comments lately. Sorry about that.

In response to Fox News' latest smear regarding Obama's link to the New Black Panther Party:

Apparently, today was a slow news day.

So Fox News evidently decided to pore through our millions of user-created pages on My.BarackObama.com and put a screenshot of inflammatory content on the front page of FoxNews.com.

You see, more than 700,000 people have created accounts on the system. You can create one right now if you choose, in about a minute -- anyone can.

Now, from time to time people get up to no good -- creating fake profiles (like one for Sean Hannity created today), or posting profane or inappropriate content. When they do, the community reports the offending content and if it violates our terms of service it is removed (as the Sean Hannity profile was).

My.BarackObama.com has been at the core of our bottom-up organizing strategy. The tools available have been put to work by a community of supporters that is bigger and more powerful than anything presidential politics has ever seen.

Evidently, Fox News didn't think it was a big deal that hundreds of thousands of ordinary Americans are participating in the democratic process creating groups and local events in communities all across the country.

But they did think it was a big deal that one random person on the Internet, without the knowledge of the Obama campaign, posted a profile in the system with the image of the New Black Panther Party on it.

When we were alerted of the existence of this page, we pulled it down. Yet even after we pulled the page, Fox News continues to disingenuously and prominently feature this "story" on their homepage.

With Obama competing with rival presidential contender Hillary Clinton for gay votes in the upcoming Pennsylvania primary, revelations of Wright’s controversial sermons have raised questions among some activists about whether Obama’s longtime pastor was among the preachers who delivered fire-and-brimstone sermons attacking homosexuality.

“Absolutely not,” said Rick Garcia, political director of Equality Illinois, the Chicago-based state gay rights group.

“Trinity has been among the strongest supporters of LGBT rights,” Garcia said. “I have the highest regard and admiration for Rev. Wright.”

Gay Chicago resident Ronald Wadley, a member of Trinity United Church of Christ, said Wright enthusiastically backed suggestions by gay church members to create a gay and lesbian singles ministry as part of the church’s existing ministry to heterosexual singles.

“We call it the same-gender loving family ministry,” Wadley said. “It’s a ministry that was formed to allow people to have an outlet to reconcile their sexuality with their spirituality,” he said.

“He has always been supportive on gay issues,” Wadley said of Wright. “He has a stance that we all go by, under the credence of John: 16 — that we are all created by God.”

Wright could not be reached for comment for this story. Spokespersons for Trinity United Church of Christ, including the Rev. Otis Moss II, the new pastor, and the Rev. Stacy Edwards, an official with the church's community ministries, did not return calls by press time.

‘He stuck up for me’

Bishop Kwabena Rainey Cheeks, pastor of Washington’s Inner Light Ministries, which has a mostly black gay congregation, said Wright has given him strong support and encouragement in Cheeks’ role as an openly gay minister in the 17 years that the two have known each other.

“When I was on a panel with him at a religious conference [in Alabama], some ministers expressed anti-gay views,” Cheeks said. “He stuck up for me. He defended me and spoke out on my behalf.”

Cheeks noted that Wright started one of Chicago’s first church-run AIDS ministries at Trinity and has boasted about having a sizable number of gays in his congregation.

I would really rather those of you who may feel somewhat defeated from this bust of a strike actually have the courage of your convictions. If you really want to see the changes you suggest put into practice, then you've got to work for it better than a quickly thrown together strike that lasts a mere few hours and accomplishes NOTHING. LJ stats are not considered on a daily basis - only weekly and monthly, therefore the past 24 hours were a bust.

I like people who are willing to make sacrifices for their beliefs and not compromise their standards. What I would like to see is all of you who feel so strongly about the issues you went on 'strike' for to actually be serious about it this time and toe that line. Go big. Go the distance. Be willing to make sacrifices for the things you believe are important, and make those sacrifices with a smile when the time comes - because you stand to lose nothing for doing that. If you've learned nothing from the Writer's Guild strike, learn that those people were prepared to go without their livelihoods for months on end to bring about the fairness they felt was deserved and earned. While a protest of policies on a blogging service that doesn't affect your livelihood is hardly on par with that, the principle should be the same if it means that much to you guys. Anything less from all of you who feel just as strongly about your position with LiveJournal/SUP's actions and/or policies as those writers did would quite frankly be a total waste of time.

I propose you organize another strike, in say a month's time when you've had more opportunity to organize, promote, and be effective in greater numbers this time, and maintain your strike for a full month. No content posted, no comments made, no logging in to the site for a full month. Give it a little time (reasonable) to be considered for the impact you have, and if your propositions are not met, then show how serious you are about these issues - delete your journals and find a more suitable blogging platform for your purposes. That way, a mass abandonment will show just how serious you are and how far you're willing to go. If the changes are made in time, you win - come back, reclaim your place on LJ and bask in the glory of victory. If not, you stood your ground and will have at the very least earned respect for it.